She had too much champagne and a monkey knocked her into some quicksand. It could happen to anyone!

What's up, pups? It's a chilly Monday afternoon and I have a cold so I am feeling ever so slightly sorry for myself. I don't know what it is about having a sore throat, but it makes me so emotional! Maybe it's the fact that I find lemsip disgusting. Anyway, I have been self-medicating since I finished work this afternoon by knitting and watching 30 Rock. I've made good progress on a second Miette cardigan - it turns out that knitting is a lot faster when you're not having to rip it out every fart's end - and, you know, Alec Baldwin.

I've had a really good few days. On Friday, Nic and I finally set a date for our wedding and started making the arrangements for it. We've changed our plans somewhat, having realised that our initial idea of getting married in Kent wasn't going to be practical. We're now getting married in Warwick, and much sooner than we had originally planned - we're going to get married on 23rd May! The registrar is booked and all there is left to do really is go and do the paperwork. The ceremony is going to be small and private - the venue we've chosen only has room for 8 guests - and that means that there isn't really much planning to do. This pleases me immensely because I think I'm missing the bride gene. I just can't get interested in or excited about weddings at all. I'm still going to make my dress, though. And of course I'm still going to buy some really fun shoes. Now that we've set the date I am starting to get very excited about it, and about our honeymoon as well. Paris, baby!

We had a quiet weekend and I was able to do some sewing, and there was even some sunshine on Saturday. Before I show you what I sewed, though, here's my first knitted finished object of 2014: a scarf for Nic!

I suck at unselfish sewing and I have never sewed something for Nic, so I thought it would be nice to knit him something. The good thing about a knitted gift is that every stitch is created by hand. I'd have to really care about someone to knit something for them. I used the yarn that I had left over from my Miette cardigan, and there was enough to make a scarf of a decent length and width. Knitting a scarf isn't the most exciting thing in the world, so I made up a pattern with enough repeating to make it mindless, but enough variation to stop it from becoming boring.

Agh! Sorry, that's totally out of focus. Anyway, I alternated rows of knit stitch with deeper rows of ribbing, and the ribbing is alternated as well with two rows of ribbing and two rows of twisted rib. I didn't block the scarf at Nic's request - he liked the wavy edges! And it saved me from blocking it, so I was happy enough. I do still want to sew something for Nic at some point, but for now I think he's happy enough with the scarf. And, biased, but I think he looks pretty cute in it.

As I said - I was able to get some sewing done this weekend. After seeing Miss Crayola Creepy's gorgeous Emery dress earlier this week, I was totally sold on the pattern and ended up buying it on my phone on the train home. What really sold me was when she said how well it fit out of the envelope in comparison to a similarly shaped dress that she'd had to toile many times to get an acceptable fit. This was basically my experience of the Peony dress by Colette (without all the toiles, but I had lots of attempts at the bodice of that damn dress and was never happy with the fit) so I thought that the Emery was totally worth a go.

I did a quick toile of the bodice on Saturday morning. This time around, I paid attention to my actual measurements and the finished measurements on the pattern envelope. I traced the size 4 bodice and toiled it up and was super pleased with the fit. So much so that I cut straight into my fabric - the amazing Island Girls print from Alexander Henry:

I just can't resist those pinup girls. They're so adorable!

I sewed the dress up in a couple of hours on Saturday afternoon. It was very straightforward - at least partly because I didn't really have to do any alterations to it. I made my usual change of raising the shoulder seams and lowering the neckline to compensate, and I also lowered the armholes slightly to match. Instead of using the skirt pattern provided I just used the width of the fabric - because I like a fuller skirt, and I didn't want to waste any of my fabric. I didn't make a collar because it would be too busy, and I omitted the pockets. That was mainly because of can't be arsedness. Here it is. SPOILER: I love it.

Blanche dress - Christine Haynes Emery dress worn with Vivienne Westwood for Melissa Lady Dragon shoes

The hem is straight, by the way. It was windy when we took these photos! I am so happy with the fit although on my next one I will make one very small adjustment and increase the size of the darts in the back neckline. Only marginally, though, because the slight gaping there is only very slight.

It was cold, so I wore a cardigan. This is how windy it was! My cardigan is from Hell Bunny, by the way. I wish they did it in every colour.

I really don't have much to stay about this pattern other than the fact that I really, really like it. I read through the instructions before I started and they seemed good, but to be honest, I just went on ahead and sewed it my own way. Not that it's any different, but with this kind of dress I don't really need instructions. And this is basically my ideal dress - with a cute fitted bodice and a full skirt - and I can already tell that this will be a hard-working pattern. I think this bodice will lend itself well to a variety of skirt hacks - I'm can already see it with a circle skirt (because, obvs) and I'm also imagining it in a slightly stretch cotton with the Elisalex tulip skirt... look, just be aware that you're probably going to see this a bunch of times over the coming months.

Here's a photo of the bodice and my unwitting bitchy resting face. I'm really not sure what I was thinking in this moment because I'm smiling in the next picture. The pattern includes pieces for longer sleeves but I knew that would be too much in this print. The sleeves set in really easily and are very comfortable. Dudes, this is one well-drafted pattern!

Back view. I'm getting a bit better at doing these. I put in a lapped zip rather than the concealed one called for in the pattern

Nic and I have been watching The Golden Girls a lot recently. His mum bought me the DVD of season 1 for Christmas, and we enjoyed it so much that we bought season 2 so we could watch it straightaway afterwards. The palm trees and flowers in this print call Hawaii to mind, but they also made me think of Florida (the first thing I noticed when we got off the plane in Orlando was the palm trees at the airport) and of course, the sassy ladies reminded me of my favourite Golden Girl, Blanche Devereaux:

That sounds like a good night in to me, Blanche.

The Golden Girls is awesome, though, and I'd look good in this dress out on the lanai.

I fucking wish I was in Miami with the Golden Girls right now. Even if it meant I risked running into that jag David Caruso.

So, that's the craic with the Emery dress. I know it's no departure at all from my usual style - but, you know, I like my usual style. This pattern is a really good addition to my pattern library because I know I'll sew from it a lot and it is cute AS. I'm a big advocate of having sewing staples - the patterns you know that fit well and that you feel good about sewing - but I must admit that it was nice to sew something new. I have a few other new patterns to test out in the coming weeks - the girls from Gather Kits very kindly sent me a copy of the frankly fucking adorable Mortmain dress to try out, and I'm doing a spot of pattern testing too and the pattern in question is pretty amazing as well. But don't worry. I'm still me. I have some amazing fabric to make another Anna dress with a circle skirt (it's the map print fabric in this post, which I bought the last time I was at Goldhawk Road) and even more Eiffel Tower fabric for even more Eiffel Tower dresses.

I'm going to leave you with a few more photos of the dress because it's so cute.

I had my hair cut on Friday afternoon. It felt like it had been ages and I felt so much better about myself afterwards. My hairdresser is considering going on a round the world trip. I hope she does, because that would be awesome for her and she's such a lovely person, but I'd be totally gutted to lose the stylist who cuts me the perfect bob every single time.

When I post pictures outside I always get people asking if Leamington is in a micro-climate or something. It's not, like, obviously. This is to reassure you that I do wear a coat!

I kind of lied when I said that Blanche was my favourite. Sofia is pretty amazing too.

In the small event that occurs, just crumple two pieces of aluminum foil and stuff them in your undershorts. It defeats their sensor rays.

Hello lovelies! Well, I am having quite the week - quite the month. I know I have already complained talked at some length about my working pattern over the past few weeks, but I am feeling a bit burned out this evening after another full-day meeting in a basement in London. I have another one tomorrow and, by the end of this week I will have clocked up 36 hours this month on the train to and from London. That's nearly a working week! It won't be always be this intense, and I expect to be riding the rails a bit less in February and March,  but today it did get to me a little bit.

So, as you might expect, my sewing has been basically curtailed because, when I have been at home, I've been too tired to even want to look at my sewing machine! I did go fabric shopping on Saturday with the Spoolettes - this was a joy as ever, and my stash is looking nice and plump as a result. Also this week I finished a scarf I started knitting for Nic earlier this month, from the leftover yarn from my Miette cardigan. That's been good, actually, because I was able to knit quite a lot of it in bed. That has suited my current schedule just fine.

I did a bit of fabric shopping earlier in the month and had a bit of a splurge at Fancy Moon. On a tired and fragile afternoon, I had nearly bought this gorgeous Limb dress from 52 Greek Street:

Limb Day dress

It's much cuter in real life - it looks a bit wrinkled and sad here. Anyway, instead of dropping £100 on the dress, I bought two metres of the fabric, which is 'Golden Garden' by Alexander Henry. Where I have mocked up one of these dresses before - the Dolly Holiday dress - I used a combination of the bodice from the Elisalex dress and a pleated skirt, so I decided to do that again. Now, after the Help dress coming out a little bit big, I took my measurements again and re-traced the Elisalex bodice. To my surprise, the new measurements suggested I should trace two sizes smaller than I had previously. That didn't seem right to me, so I traced one size smaller. And, you know what? IT'S TOO FUCKING BIG. DERP.

Northland Row dress - worn with pink shoes from Topshop

It's not massively too big, but it is too big. It's hard to tell in these photos but it's too big at the waist and around the bust - I know this is TMI, but I'm wearing a padded bra to make it look like it's not too big. I'll be able to shrink it up a little bit and it'll be fine, but I am a bit annoyed with myself. I should have done a toile, really, and I should have trusted the measurements. It's a funny thing, really. I know I have lost weight in the last few months, and my measurements support that. All the same, I find it really hard to have an accurate idea of what my body actually looks like. I don't think I look any different now to how I did this time last year, which I suppose is what accounts for my reluctance to trust my measuring tape.

So, I kind of hate these photos. And look, I'm aware that this whole post might come off as humblebragging. I really don't mean it in that way. It's not like "OMG I'M SO TINY IT'S HARD TO BE SO LITTLE AND DAINTY" but it did come as a surprise to me that my perception of myself was so out, despite the fact that I regularly have full-length photos taken of myself. You'd think that sewing would give you a better idea of the quirks of your own body, but I don't know if it has for me. So, in summary, I'm going to retrace the Elisalex bodice in that smaller size, possibly with a slight FBA and I'm going to try shrinking this dress to see if I can get it to fit a bit better. Because, the poor dress. It's so cute!

It's definitely salvageable. I love the fabric and the colours, and the shape. I can fix it, and I will wear it.  Lesson definitely learned. But make me feel better, here. Has this ever happened to you?

I am going to have some sewing time at the weekend, and I have some beautiful fabric and some fun sewing plans. I'm going to sign off here for tonight though, because I'm tired and a bit cranky. I'll be back on my usual sparkling (heh) form next time, I swear! I'm off now to spend time with the only person crankier than me - Andy Sipowicz.

You got a lot of morons in your family? 'Cause that could be genetic.

I look like the mother of a solid gold dancer.

Woo! Hello there! How's your week going? Mine is grand - I'm having a busy one, but that's nothing new. It's all good, though. Life is good! I'm spending a lot of it on the train at the moment but I have my knitting and a few good books to keep me occupied so I can't complain really.

I don't have a great deal of time to sew at the moment, but I'm trying to make time where I can. I have managed to complete two projects so far since coming back after Christmas though, so I guess I'm still doing okay! I sewed the first one the weekend that I came back to Leamington. I was stressed and tired and feeling quite sad for various reasons, so I wanted to sew something bright and happy and cheerful. I met up with Sarah for coffee and a chat and she came fabric shopping with me - after a long chat with her and with some pretty fabric in my bag I felt a lot better.

As I was feeling a bit blue I wanted to sew something simple and fun so I stuck with a classic and went for another variation on By Hand London's Anna dress. Try not to die of shock, mmkay? I did have a specific variation in mind, and it was inspired by the new pattern from Christine Haynes, the Emery dress. Now, don't take me up wrong. I'm not trying to knock off an independent designer - far from it - but I wanted to check out the style to see if the pattern is worth me investing in. Pinkie swear it. So, I decided to substitute Anna's seamed skirt with a gathered one, and to lengthen the sleeves. And here it is:

The Help dress - By Hand London Anna dress with modifications, worn with Irregular Choice 'Oz' shoes

The fabric is fabulous. It's from the 'Paintbox' collection by Cynthia Rowley for Michael Miller and the print is called 'Graphic Floral.' In my 2013 round-up post, Lizzy commented that she thought the dresses I termed as 'fails' were possibly not my style because of the small prints, and she was right. I like a good bold print, and this really falls into that category, doesn't it? 

Anyway, this came together with no bother. I cut the sleeves a little bit wider than I intended and, if I'm being brutally honest, it's a little big all over. I didn't prewash the fabric because I just wanted to get down to sewing this baby, so a turn through the hot wash will shrink this dress up a little bit but since then, I measured myself again. It's one of the unfortunate downsides of having lost weight and being lazy. I'm going to have to retrace my favourite patterns. Ah well, it could be worse.

Here's the print close-up. I didn't think there was going to be a way to avoid those big floral motifs being bullseyes and I didn't quite side-step that, but that's okay. Also, I think I will take the sleeves up slightly - they're a bit crumpled here from being caught in my cardigan, and I can tell that's going to annoy me. But those are just niggles really - I love the fabric and I love the shape of this dress, and I'm pretty happy overall. And you know what? Sewing it really did help to make me feel better.

I wore this on Saturday when Nic and I went out to do a bit of shopping and have lunch. It was my first opportunity to wear some shoes I bought when I was at home over Christmas:

Tweed shoes. Totally impractical. You can't wear them when it's warm and you can't wear them when it rains. I love them though.

There is some navy in the print of the dress and I wanted to wear my shoes, so I decided to pull the whole look together with a navy cardigan. And that went well...

This is... surprisingly difficult.

I have a newfound respect for people who put clothes on for a living - models, and the people who dress mannequins in shops

Yeah, I do need to shorten those sleeves a little bit, eh? But that's fine. And I promise this little display is not my everyday reality. I am reasonably competent at getting myself dressed by now.

After finishing our errands in town on Saturday, Nic and I seized the opportunity to have lunch in a new restaurant on Bedford Street. It's a tiny little Japanese restaurant called Aura-Daze and it opened late last year, but we hadn't had a chance to visit before now. We were lucky to get a table - the restaurant is so small that it seats a maximum of 10-12, and while we were there we saw lots of people leave disappointed at not being able to get a seat. It's a family-run business - while the chef was making the sushi or whatever in the open kitchen, his wife acted as Maitre'd. She was charm personified and the motto on the wall that read "Enter as strangers - Leave as friends" felt very apt. We had a leisurely lunch which was curtailed by an accident - the chef cut his hand and had to close the kitchen. Even this calamity was dealt with with charm, as the chef's wife was so clearly delighted when she jokingly cried, "Is there a doctor in the house?" and there was! A medical doctor, that is - although there was of course a doctor of film studies also. I'm already looking forward to going back. Leamington has so many chain restaurants, and they're fine in their place, but it's good to see an independent restaurant doing well and surviving what is otherwise a tough month. Also, I'm glad to have a place to get noodles - ever since Wagamama on the parade were such dicks about Nic's vegetarian pad thai containing chicken, I haven't wanted to go back. Also, seeing your food being prepared in front of you beats being told, "I've checked the food bag for this meal, sir, and I'm confident there was no chicken in it.' Food bag? BOKE. Smell ya later, Wagamama. 

Anyway, that was Saturday. And that's my new dress!

I called it the Help dress, because sewing it helped me. But mainly because, while I was doing the last bits of handsewing on it, Nic and I watched The Help. I'd read the book some time before and had enjoyed it, and was curious to see the film. Naturally the beautiful 60s fashions were also enticing, and of course I fell in love with this dress worn by horrible, bitchy old Hilly Holbrook:

The style and shape are so similar to Chantilly by Colette Patterns, which I already own and which I love. But that FABRIC. Damn. Any of you eagle-eyed readers out there have any hot tips on where I could find a large scale rose print such as this one? I promise not to pull a Hilly on y'all. 

Right. It's dinner time up in here. Night all!

The only other woman who could understand what I've been though is Priscilla Presley.

Hola lovers! Well, I hope that the cruel few days of early January aren't being too rough on you all. I went back to work on Monday and although it's only Wednesday, I already feel ready for a holiday! I have been working in London and the days have been exhausting and surreal - it won't really feel like I'm back at work until I work in my usual office tomorrow, I suppose. And until I have my first brush with canteen roulette, it won't really count.

Anyway, being back in Leamington after the holidays is actually very nice. My last few days at home were a bit stressful, for various reasons, so it has been good to be back. And I've been reunited with my sewing machine, so I have a pretty new dress to cheer up these dull days. I haven't been able to photograph it yet so you'll have to wait to see that, I'm afraid. In the meantime, here's my very last handmade item of 2013 - my very first knitted cardigan!

Miette cardigan by Andi Satterlund, worn with my Foux du FaFa dress and Vivienne Westwood for Melissa Ultragirl shoes

So. I knitted a cardigan! As I said in my previous post, I am ridiculously proud of myself for being able to knit something wearable that's not just a scarf. That was a bit of a mental hurdle for me to get over, and I taught myself. This might sound like bragging but, fuck it, I don't care. I think I did well.

Dudes, I'm not blind though. I can see there are some issues here and I have learned a LOT from this process. One is that although I did knit a tension swatch for this, I totally did not take into account that ease works differently in knitting than it does in sewing. I didn't read the pattern closely enough, and because of that the cardigan is too small across my bust. You might notice that I didn't put any buttons on this and it's because they would never, ever be used. And they'd be a potential health hazard. I don't want anyone in my vicinity losing an eye, after all. So on my next one, I'll knit the next size up. 

No buttons? No problem!

In terms of wearability it's not causing me a problem. I only very rarely button cardigans up anyway and, in fact, I find it annoying when they flap around. I do prefer my cardigans to be very fitted, which is why I was drawn to the Miette in the first place.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I had to rip out and redo bits of this cardigan lots and lots. The plus side of that is that I know how to do that now, and it's not a problem. It did lead me into making a mistake here in that I had knitted down as far as the waistband ribbing when I noticed a mistake that I needed to go back and fix. I did fix it, but I forgot to switch back to the bigger needles so the bottom couple of inches are knitted in the wrong gauge. Fixing that wouldn't be enough to sort the sizing out, but I won't do it again!

This is the face of someone who realised she'd made quite a major error, but who would rather boke than rip out more knitting.

I learned from my mistakes but I did also just, you know, learn stuff. I learned how to knit lace, how to knit a twisted rib and how to knit in the round. I think these are all skills I can build on. It was also really, really nice to have a crafty project on the go when I was at home. I like watching TV and everything, but it was good to have something to keep my hands and my brain occupied. I probably won't ever be a super knitter, but I'm really glad to have acquired the skill!

I've been thinking a lot about this over the last few days. I really enjoyed the process of learning something new and the nice thing about knitting is that it's pretty possible to go back and fix mistakes. It makes it a low-risk thing to try teaching yourself. I enjoyed the challenge of learning, but I think it was important that I took it on when I had a lot of mental space to do so - as well as a lot of free time to devote to it.

I've been thinking a lot over the last few days about the process of learning new skills and challenging yourself to move out of your comfort zone. I think it's all of the reflections posts I've been reading on sewing blogs - many of which expressed a desire to become a more advanced or professional seamstress. I can relate to that to some extent because I do enjoy learning new things.  There's been some talk in the sewing blogging world recently about what constitutes 'real' sewing - I suppose, to some, there is a distinct division between challenging 'technical' sewing and - well, anything that isn't that, I guess. I can see that sewing cotton dresses in basically the same silhouette might make me seem like a lightweight or even lazy seamstress to some people. Maybe I am. Of course sewing a dress with cotton isn't as challenging as, say, tailoring a wool coat or sewing. For where I am in my life, though, I'm comfortable with that.

I've thought about how challenging 2013 was for me in many respects. I don't mean in a bad way - it's just that I had a very busy year. I felt - and continue to feel - stretched by my job. I enjoy it, but it's demanding. I've had to learn a lot of new things very quickly and take on a lot more responsibility than I had before. That's not going to change any time soon, to be honest, and 2014 has a lot of challenges ahead as well. It might sound like a cop-out, but right now sewing is how I relax and unwind, and how I express myself creatively. It's nice to learn new things, but I'm not interested in putting pressure on myself to do that in my hobby. It's not impossible, but it's not where I am now. I'm okay with that.

There's still time to learn new things. For now I'm going to enjoy the pretty dresses.

Right. Nic is teaching Mildred Pierce to his MA students. He's just mixed some cocktails so I am going to go and enjoy gin and Joan Crawford. MULDOON OUT.

TAKE THIS LUMP OF SUGAR BABY YOU KNOW YOU WANT IT.

HAPPY 2014 EVERYONE! I hope everyone spent last night in a manner of their own choosing and that 2014 holds lots of promise for you all. I stayed in with Nic, my parents, my sister and a few bottles of champagne and some rum. It was a lot of fun and a very late night. I was feeling rather delicate when I woke up this morning, but after going back to bed for a restorative two-hour nap followed by a gallon of tea and some toast, I feel basically human again. It's not that often now that I get drunk enough to have a rotten hangover so I can't even resent it. And as the weather is so shitty outside and we have no plans to go anywhere or do anything, it's no hardship. Not a bad way to start the new year, in fact!

Although we didn't go out last night, it's still nice to get dressed up for a party and I had brought one dress home with me with that exact purpose in mind. I bought this on ebay a few weeks ago, after wanting it for ages, and I got it for less than half of what I had budgeted for it. Woot!

Bettie Page Captain dress and Melissa 'Raspberry' court shoes

Don't you love the scenic backdrop I chose?! It's been so stormy here over the last few weeks that everywhere looks kind of a mess, and I don't have my usual front step to pose on. Oh well. This dress might look familiar, and that's because I kind of already have it. It comes in a pencil skirt version as well, which I bought a few years ago. It doesn't get as much wear as maybe it ought to because it's very fitted, so it's not at all practical for anything other than occasion wear - I've worn it to two weddings and to a few parties. It makes me a bit sad that I don't wear it more often because I really love that big old collar detail. So, I'm very happy to have the circle skirt version of it as well.

I do actually have a sewing pattern that sort of could have done the job of making my own version of this dress - a cute Retro Butterick number that has been in my stash for an age:

Retro Butterick B5747

It's not exactly the same - there is only one row of buttons, rather than two, and it does have that detachable dickey thing. Still, the notched collar is basically the same. If you want proof of how cute this dress is made up, check out Julia Bobbins' amazing version. Ugh. She's so talented I can't stand it. Anyway - as this dress was so cheap on ebay, it worked out easier than making my own. I love sewing, but sometimes it's nice to just buy the dress.

I did have red shoes to wear with this dress, but the plastic shoes seemed more sensible in the mud!

The other thing I'd been saving to wear on New Year's Eve was a pair of tights I'd bought when Nic and I were in Cardiff at the start of November. I still hate wearing tights and there has been a dearth of cool tights available to buy this year, so I sort of wish I'd bought a few pairs of these to stock up. They're from Primark, and you have to admit they're pretty cool:

I had a great night last night, and even though we didn't go out, I am glad I got dressed up. I did have to spend about an hour this morning getting the dog hair off my lovely dress though, because Mini stuck to me like glue all evening.

The scene in our house at 3 o'clock this morning

The other thing I did yesterday was to block my first hand-knit cardigan. I finished it on the 30th so managed to squeak it in along with my 2013 makes - bringing my total to 68! Knitting is something I've been wanting to get into for ages. I've been able to knit for a while but only in the most basic way and following a knitting pattern and learning lots of new stitches felt like it would be totally beyond me. I had some encouragement from my lovely friend Char, who is never to be seen without her knitting needles. I bought myself some circular needles and some yarn before I came home for Christmas, and once I got home I got down to trying to decipher the Miette pattern by Andi Satterlund. It's aimed at beginners but it's still pretty challenging, and I had to rip out and re-start it more times than I care to remember. Then once I got started, I had to rip out and re-do many mistakes. I became very good at doing that! The finished article is very far from perfect, but it's wearable and I think it's a creditable first attempt. It's still blocking away so I don't have a photo of me wearing it, but here it is pre-blocking:

My finished Miette! It's sitting on a fab giant granny square blanket that my mum crocheted for my bed.

I'm so happy that I got over my mental block about being able to follow a knitting pattern. It's weird but it is just something I thought I wouldn't be able to do. But then I reasoned that a few years ago I felt that way about dressmaking, and now I wear clothes I've made more often than not - and why should knitting be any different? Also, you know, it's hard to find cardigans that are just right, so being able to knit my own would come in very handy. When I get back to Leamington, I'm going to buy some navy yarn and go for Miette Mark 2, I think!

Right. That's me for this afternoon. My brother and sister are bringing their respective new babies round this evening and I need to go and have a nap to build up the energy for that. Happy new year, my lovelies!